You shouldn't post any valuable ships at Midway early in the war. Putting them there is a great way to find them ambushed and sunk. Your AO and AS are way too valuable to risk. You might send forward to Midway some supply and reinforcements (one of the Pearl Marine CD units is prepping for Midway). You can send in small TFs, breaking up the CD unit so that it comes in over time so that you don't risk losing it.

+1 See my AAR for what happens when you even put support ships at Hilo.

Do the CD unit and one more something (I like a base force, but your call) to get to the 6000 limit or just a scratch over it. I run 6120 there in most games and the supply hit is not a factor.

For the subs just put fuel there. They come out of Pearl armed and fixed. Just a drink and off to war. Highly historical too.

I'm not sure what he's doing with North Borneo, TBH. I've got scouts watching the approaches, but haven't seen any invasion ships yet.

Grabbing Miri and Brunei is one of the safest first/second turn moves there is. It gives Japan fuel right away. If he isn't doing that he's a newbie to be sure.

For that matter, I should be seeing more invasion TFs along the Malayan coast, but so far I only see one headed towards Mersing. I started moving the two Aussie brigades and a few other support units to Mersing on day 1, so I should be in position to welcome them.

Mersing is a possible good move on Turn 1. By turn 2 you can have TBs at Singers that eat this up unless he has the MKB or Kaga along. And you know where many of his light carriers are.

In regards to the PP cost for pulling out those fighters, isn't that determined by the number of airframes left when you try to buy them out?

Don't recall. I still think you have better use for the PPs.

If so, the two FG fragments in the PI should be fairly cheap. As for the B-17's, I'm aware that the D model has a longer range than the others, but since there's no replacement frames for them and these groups are sent back in April, I'm thinking of shuffling some of my other B-17 training groups around to use other air frames as they become available and using the spare D frames to support this BG in Northern Oz.

April is a lifetime for you now. There's no replacements, but the Zeros can't hurt them much either if you fix them between raids. You'll get a lot of work out of them before they go. And do you relaly want to pull them all the way back to Oz now? They can be of use more forward than that immediately. A lot of the B-17 groups in CONUS are P restricted and others are only 2 planes. There are, I think, a couple you can buy out. Not sure it it's worth it given the time to ship them elsewhere. Some players try to hop&skip planes across the PAc before they lose key islands, but I've never done this. A lot of ops losses and fatigue.

And another turn done. My Carriers didn't find the KB, so it's back to PH I go after detaching a couple of CAs and a squadron of DDs for escorts. This small SCTF is headed to Oz by way of Canton to refuel first.

Well, another day and another turn. There's a few things notable in this turn though. Lots of sub action, all on his side, plus the Houston/Boise TF corners the invasion fleet off the Northern Coast of Borneo, only to find out that the fleet is guarded by IJNS Chokai and five DDs. I lose one old four-stacker in the ensuing slugfest and the Houston is hurt pretty badly, but the Boise worked the Chokai over at close range and put a hurt on her, landing over a dozen hits, knocking out one of her 8" turrets, one of her TT mounts, penetrating the hull repeatedly and generally breaking things and killing people quick, fast and in a hurry. I don't think she'll sink, but Chokai is going to be in a fender and body shop for a while after this one.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot at the transports but considering how few CAs the IJN has, I'll take what I get here. Oh, did I mention that Force Z is moving in to clean up tomorrow? Time will tell how that works out, but I'm hoping that the damage was worth the prize.

15 Support troops lost in surf during unload of 9th Field Const Bn Motorized Support dropped into water during unload of 14th Army Motorized Support lost from landing craft during unload of 14th Army 15 Support troops lost overboard during unload of 14th Army Engineer Vehicle lost overboard during unload of 3rd Ind Engr Rgt /2 Motorized Support dropped into water during unload of 14th Army /2 Motorized Support accidentally lost during unload of 14th Army /2 15 Support troops lost in surf during unload of 3rd Const Bn /2 Motorized Support dropped into water during unload of 14th Army /3 15 Support troops lost overboard during unload of 14th Army /3

17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad accidentally lost during unload of Tanaka 15 Support troops accidentally lost during unload of 28th JAAF AF Bn /2 17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad accidentally lost during unload of Tanaka /2 20 troops of a IJA Hy Inf Sqd 41 lost from landing craft during unload of 28th JAAF AF Bn

I lost the Houston before I could get her to a port. (FOUR 8" hits sank a CA??? WTF is wrong with my CAs?) Did I mention that Force Z caught the North Borneo landings, slaughtering his TF? Yeah, that's a little bit of a condolence prize for losing the Houston, but not much of one.

Definately not a good turn for the Allies. There's a IJN SCTF loose in my shipping lanes between Manila and Soerabaja and they're wrecking havoc among my retreating support ships. To make matters worse, I lost Wake before I could extract my Wildcats and a Chinese Shock attack goes horribly wrong, resulting in massive casualties for no gain.

CAP engaged: No.243 Sqn RAF with Buffalo I (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (3 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 30000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 7 minutes

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on Johore Bahru , at 50,83

Did I mention that I hate IJN surface raiders, especially when I don't have any surface units to counter them with?

Guam fell today as well, but I managed to bombard Wake with an AG to offset that, killing 75 Japs. Not that I did it INTENTIONALLY, as I actually forgot to give it the order to turn around after Wake fell, but it's nice to see it all the same.

17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad lost from landing craft during unload of 20th Infantry Rgt 15 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 20th Infantry Rgt 17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad lost in surf during unload of 9th Infantry Rgt 17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad accidentally lost during unload of 9th Infantry Rgt 15 Support troops lost in surf during unload of 9th Infantry Rgt 17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad lost in surf during unload of 9th Infantry Rgt /2 15 Support troops lost in surf during unload of 9th Infantry Rgt /2 15 Support troops lost overboard during unload of 16th Engr Rgt 17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad lost from landing craft during unload of 20th Infantry Rgt /4 17 troops of a IJA Motorized Squad accidentally lost during unload of 16th Recon Rgt /1

CAP engaged: No.453 Sqn RAF with Buffalo I (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 8 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 23000 and 28430. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 20 minutes No.488 Sqn RAF with Buffalo I (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 30000 , scrambling fighters between 26000 and 28430. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 37 minutes No.243 Sqn RAF with Buffalo I (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 25000 , scrambling fighters between 27000 and 32000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Singapore , at 50,84

CAP engaged: No.453 Sqn RAF with Buffalo I (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters to 29430. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 4 minutes No.488 Sqn RAF with Buffalo I (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 30000 , scrambling fighters to 26000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 15 minutes

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 62nd Chinese Corps, at 77,58 , near Canton

At last, some more good news for the Allies. It would appear that my opponent has forgotten to bring any interceptors with him to Miri to protect his newly acquired refinery there. I sortied 16 B-17Ds and came home with 14 hits for no losses. Not a bad day and if he doesn't defend it, I'll keep pounding on it.

In other news, the IJN SCTF that's been eating my ships is still on the loose and caught a few more retreating TFs. I lost a large xAP and an AS that I had planned on using at Perth, but I'll soon have more in place. More importantly, by keeping his TF occupied up near Manila, this is giving my other TFs a chance to make a break for Australia from Soerabaja, including all three of the Dutch floating docks, both Dutch AS and their lone AR. They may not be great for larger ships, but they'll work just fine on refitting my SS fleets at Perth.

Finally, PoW took a bomb hit at Singers while getting ready to head for the area East of Borneo. The damage isn't critical and I did manage to take about 10 Nells down in the exchange, but now the IJA/IJN know where PoW is and, more importantly, is not. That has got to change.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Dec 14, 41 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Submarine attack near San Francisco at 208,90

Motorized Support lost overboard during unload of 16th Army 15 Support troops lost in surf during unload of 16th Army 15 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 16th Army 17 troops of a IJA Engineer Squad lost from landing craft during unload of 146th Infantry Rgt /1 Motorized Support accidentally lost during unload of 1st Ind Engr Rgt 17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad lost from landing craft during unload of 146th Infantry Rgt /2 17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad accidentally lost during unload of 146th Infantry Rgt 17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad lost in surf during unload of 146th Infantry Rgt /4 Motorized Support dropped into water during unload of 16th Army /3 15 Support troops lost in surf during unload of 16th Army /3 Motorized Support damaged beyond repair during unload of 16th Army /3

Also, it seems that I have an IJN CV force operating in the waters South of Wake. I lost AM Penguin and AG Regulus to air attacks which included Zeros, Vals and Kates so I suspect that I'm dealing with at least two Fleet CVs if not more.

The number of escorting Zeros on these strikes was quite large, as if an entire CV's fighter wing was dedicated to escorting the attack, but I'm not sure. Someone with more experience please let me know what you think I could be dealing with here? I'm tempted to sortie my CVs, but only if I can achieve either 2:2 or 3:2 odds in my favor.

A comment on Miri. If you're going to do the strike it's better to hit the Oil than the Refineries. The refineries throw off some supply, but without oil they're useless for making fuel. Without refineries he just takes the oil elsewhere to make fuel.

You can repair both Oil and Refineries, but it takes time and requires considerable supplies.

On a side note, on your disastrous shock attack at Ichang a couple of turns ago, it looks very much like you only attacked with one or two units, not with your whole 1600+AV (couple of units crossing the river and auto-shocking from the west maybe?) Depending on what you have there now, you may still be able to take Ichang with a shock using all of your units simultaneously. Worth looking at, at least.

You can repair both Oil and Refineries, but it takes time and requires considerable supplies.

On a side note, on your disastrous shock attack at Ichang a couple of turns ago, it looks very much like you only attacked with one or two units, not with your whole 1600+AV (couple of units crossing the river and auto-shocking from the west maybe?) Depending on what you have there now, you may still be able to take Ichang with a shock using all of your units simultaneously. Worth looking at, at least.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Quixote

You can repair both Oil and Refineries, but it takes time and requires considerable supplies.

On a side note, on your disastrous shock attack at Ichang a couple of turns ago, it looks very much like you only attacked with one or two units, not with your whole 1600+AV (couple of units crossing the river and auto-shocking from the west maybe?) Depending on what you have there now, you may still be able to take Ichang with a shock using all of your units simultaneously. Worth looking at, at least.

That's good to know about the Oil/Refinery repairs. I'll keep the pressure on him then, at least until he puts enough Zeros there to stop me.

As for Ichang, I looked into it and it does appear that what you describe is exactly what happened. I've been resting my troops and prepping for the next attack, which should be in 2-3 days at this rate. I anticipate taking Ichang this time, but am moving up some artillery from the Central Reserve just in case it's needed.

On a side note to that, my opponent doesn't seem to be very active in China and really hasn't been hitting very many places in the CenPac, SoPac or SWPac. He's active, sort of, in Malaya and I've not seen hide nor hair of him in Burma yet; not that I'm complaining. I've been able to almost completely empty Palembang and Balikpapan of Oil and Fuel, shuttling it to Soerabaja first and then down to Perth. His only invasion in the DEI or Borneo to date has been at Miri. Does it normally take a player that long to hit the SRA or should I be watching for moves elsewhere?

17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad lost in surf during unload of Kimura Det 15 Support troops lost in surf during unload of Kimura Det 17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad lost from landing craft during unload of Kimura Det /3 15 Support troops accidentally lost during unload of Kimura Det /3 15 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 1st Naval Const Bn /2 17 troops of a IJA Inf Squad accidentally lost during unload of Kimura Det /4

Finally got something to report, although it's not good. Not only is the IJA landing at Brunai, but when I hit Miri again today, I lost 9 of 18 B-17s when I ran into a cloud of 30+ Zeroes. Although I only show two bombers downed here, I lost another 7 either on the flight back or on landing at Soerabaja, with three pilots killed or reported MIA. Miri is officially out of the question for now, unless I can neutralize those Zeros.

One thing I'd like to know though is what type of Carriers did those Zeros come from? Zuiho, Hosho and Ryujo are mentioned, but aren't those CVLs? If so, what do I make of this? Did he off-load his Zeros from those CVLs or are they close enough to help stop the raid? I'm thinking that there's a force of CVLs just North of Borneo, but I'm not sure and I don't have any CVs of my own in range to do anything about them. LBA are not going to work and even the dreaded 'Beests won't make it through a Zero CAP without a huge escort, which I can't provide due to the massive sweeps over Singers.

CAP engaged: Yamada Det S-2 with A6M2 Zero (1 airborne, 2 on standby, 2 scrambling) 1 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters to 16000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 38 minutes Ryujo-1 with A6M2 Zero (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters to 17000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes Zuiho-1 with A6M2 Zero (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 13 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters to 17000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 69 minutes Hosho-1 with A6M2 Zero (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters to 17000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 161 minutes

Finally got something to report, although it's not good. Not only is the IJA landing at Brunai, but when I hit Miri again today, I lost 9 of 18 B-17s when I ran into a cloud of 30+ Zeroes. Although I only show two bombers downed here, I lost another 7 either on the flight back or on landing at Soerabaja, with three pilots killed or reported MIA. Miri is officially out of the question for now, unless I can neutralize those Zeros.

One thing I'd like to know though is what type of Carriers did those Zeros come from? Zuiho, Hosho and Ryujo are mentioned, but aren't those CVLs? If so, what do I make of this? Did he off-load his Zeros from those CVLs or are they close enough to help stop the raid? I'm thinking that there's a force of CVLs just North of Borneo, but I'm not sure and I don't have any CVs of my own in range to do anything about them. LBA are not going to work and even the dreaded 'Beests won't make it through a Zero CAP without a huge escort, which I can't provide due to the massive sweeps over Singers.

You have to mix up targets against humans.

What you make of the Zeros is the mini-KB is most likely around. It works the DEI hard in most games. TBs? Based from where? You know you need a torpedo-stocked air HQ to use TBs from land, right? (I don't know what you know. Sorry if that's an already-known statement about the HQ.)

In general in December 1941 you don't have the stuff to be very offensive. Fall back, defend where you must, slow him down, play fo rtime, figure out what you'll give up, don't lose ships, planes, or troops for no gain. If you hang it out Japan will cut it off. For most of the first six months at minimum.

Yeah, I have to admit that it was kind of foolish of me to hit him two times in a row at this point. I need to be forcing him to react to me instead of the opposite.

The reason that I was curious about those Carriers is that I saw Ryujo and I think Zuiho on 7 DEC 41 just SW of Pearl. Granted, it could have been a FoW sighting and thus false, but it has been 9 days since I've had a positive sighting of the KB and while I had reports of Carrier aircraft hitting a couple of ships just East of Wake on 14 DEC 41, I don't have any idea as to what CVs they came from.

I don't know if the Mini-KB is in the SRA or not, but I've got plenty of shipping in the area that will need to scatter if that's the case. Tomorrow will, hopefully, tell the tale.

Oh, I almost forgot. I knew about the necessity of loading HQa with torpedoes before TBs will carry out their normal attacks. I have two Squadrons of Beesties and one Flight of Swordfish at Singers, but they'll be leaving soon due to the increasing number of air raids I'm taking here, which I can't defend against. I'll pull the squadrons and HQa out to use elsewhere and if I still have time I'll try to buy out a few LCUs from the Singer's garrison as well, specifically I'm thinking about the two Aussie Brigades.

Oh, I almost forgot. I knew about the necessity of loading HQa with torpedoes before TBs will carry out their normal attacks. I have two Squadrons of Beesties and one Flight of Swordfish at Singers, but they'll be leaving soon due to the increasing number of air raids I'm taking here, which I can't defend against. I'll pull the squadrons and HQa out to use elsewhere and if I still have time I'll try to buy out a few LCUs from the Singer's garrison as well, specifically I'm thinking about the two Aussie Brigades.

Just be careful with the Beests. If you use a drop tank you can't carry a torpedo. (That's the pre-war Beest. the later one I believe you can.) For that one model of plane the interface will let you think you loaded both, but you didn't.

The Beest without a drop tank won't get you anywhere near Miri.

As for pulling out of Singers, opinions differ. Different ways to go there. What you don't want is to put a premium LCU on ships and have them sunk on the way out. Then you lose them at Singers, the new place, everywhere. Been there.

Oh, I almost forgot. I knew about the necessity of loading HQa with torpedoes before TBs will carry out their normal attacks. I have two Squadrons of Beesties and one Flight of Swordfish at Singers, but they'll be leaving soon due to the increasing number of air raids I'm taking here, which I can't defend against. I'll pull the squadrons and HQa out to use elsewhere and if I still have time I'll try to buy out a few LCUs from the Singer's garrison as well, specifically I'm thinking about the two Aussie Brigades.

Just be careful with the Beests. If you use a drop tank you can't carry a torpedo. (That's the pre-war Beest. the later one I believe you can.) For that one model of plane the interface will let you think you loaded both, but you didn't.

The Beest without a drop tank won't get you anywhere near Miri.

As for pulling out of Singers, opinions differ. Different ways to go there. What you don't want is to put a premium LCU on ships and have them sunk on the way out. Then you lose them at Singers, the new place, everywhere. Been there.

I wasn't aware of the situation with the drop tanks, that's a good thing to know. I'm assuming that when using a drop tank, that any payload you're carrying defaults to the extended range figure?

Also, I noticed something in today's turn and I'm trying something to see what happens. Yesterday, I set a squadron of Hudsons in Rangoon to Naval Search, with part of the first arc crossing over the land near Moulmein. This turn, when I check to see what I found, it would appear that the NavSearch mission found an LCU two hexes SE of Moulmein. No details were given, other than the fact that there's a unit there and it's not mine, but this caught me off guard. Can NavSearch missions do that or did something else detect that IJA unit and, if so, what? How does detection of LCUs work anyway?

Oh, and the situation at Singers is like this. I've been able to reform the two Indian Divisions north of Singers and they're now fighting a delaying action, trying to buy me time to evacuate those forces I want to save and build up as high a fortification level as possible before the whole thing collapses. I've long since retreated all of my ENG units to help with the digging at Singers, so only the two Divisions and a few independent Brigades and Battalions are left North of the city. Everyone else is inside the city, either resting and trying to raise their prep levels as high as possible for the seige or switching to STRAT mode for evacuation.

Which brings up another question. Once Singapore falls, Hong Kong too for that matter, should I reform any of those units destroyed? I usually reform the Canadian units at HK, but what about the two Indian Divisions? Are they worth it?

Oh, I almost forgot. I knew about the necessity of loading HQa with torpedoes before TBs will carry out their normal attacks. I have two Squadrons of Beesties and one Flight of Swordfish at Singers, but they'll be leaving soon due to the increasing number of air raids I'm taking here, which I can't defend against. I'll pull the squadrons and HQa out to use elsewhere and if I still have time I'll try to buy out a few LCUs from the Singer's garrison as well, specifically I'm thinking about the two Aussie Brigades.

Just be careful with the Beests. If you use a drop tank you can't carry a torpedo. (That's the pre-war Beest. the later one I believe you can.) For that one model of plane the interface will let you think you loaded both, but you didn't.

The Beest without a drop tank won't get you anywhere near Miri.

As for pulling out of Singers, opinions differ. Different ways to go there. What you don't want is to put a premium LCU on ships and have them sunk on the way out. Then you lose them at Singers, the new place, everywhere. Been there.

I wasn't aware of the situation with the drop tanks, that's a good thing to know. I'm assuming that when using a drop tank, that any payload you're carrying defaults to the extended range figure?

Also, I noticed something in today's turn and I'm trying something to see what happens. Yesterday, I set a squadron of Hudsons in Rangoon to Naval Search, with part of the first arc crossing over the land near Moulmein. This turn, when I check to see what I found, it would appear that the NavSearch mission found an LCU two hexes SE of Moulmein. No details were given, other than the fact that there's a unit there and it's not mine, but this caught me off guard. Can NavSearch missions do that or did something else detect that IJA unit and, if so, what? How does detection of LCUs work anyway?

On Beests: check Page 6 of the Tech Section for a thread I started about this. I was prety peeved, but look past that to Michael's response. The answer is you have to use the Aircraft Data tab as the final answer for what the game is actually loading and flying with. Don't depend on the Torpedo Loaded line being yellow. With a drop tank I believe the Beest flies with a machine gun only. But check. Drop tanks are a problem in many models. Sometimes they're on the centerline hardpoint and displace ordnance, sometimes they're on the wings and don't (or do), etc. Sometimes different models of the same named aircraft move the drop tank. The Beest is one of these. Always use the Aircraft Data tab.

The search thing is a new one. You may have actually come up with a question that's never been asked. Section 10.1.1 of the manual discusses how detection levels change. In general land detection by air takes a Recon mission, and water detection takes a Search. I'm pretty sure that there is code to detect when a Search mission is ordered over 100% land terrain types, but I don't know if there is code to detect when some segments of a Search go over land. I suspect there is not. So, I'd believe that the enemy LCU is there. I have never seen FOW apply to the actual presence of an LCU. IOW, I have never seen phantom icons show up on land. Not saying they couldn't, but I've never seen it.

It's also possible that LCU was detected by a standard means, as described in 10.1.1. Either way, I'd believe that it's there and make plans accordingly.

Finally got something to report, although it's not good. Not only is the IJA landing at Brunai, but when I hit Miri again today, I lost 9 of 18 B-17s when I ran into a cloud of 30+ Zeroes. Although I only show two bombers downed here, I lost another 7 either on the flight back or on landing at Soerabaja, with three pilots killed or reported MIA. Miri is officially out of the question for now, unless I can neutralize those Zeros.

One thing I'd like to know though is what type of Carriers did those Zeros come from? Zuiho, Hosho and Ryujo are mentioned, but aren't those CVLs? If so, what do I make of this? Did he off-load his Zeros from those CVLs or are they close enough to help stop the raid? I'm thinking that there's a force of CVLs just North of Borneo, but I'm not sure and I don't have any CVs of my own in range to do anything about them. LBA are not going to work and even the dreaded 'Beests won't make it through a Zero CAP without a huge escort, which I can't provide due to the massive sweeps over Singers.

He will have a lot of LBA fighters, and that very could be what these are, or he could be LRCAPing that area with CV support...I wouldn't have any idea without being you and seeing it happen first hand. If Miri is a size 1 AF, then yes, he can have fighters there, but he wouldn't be able to fly any other type of mission from said AF.

Which brings up another question. Once Singapore falls, Hong Kong too for that matter, should I reform any of those units destroyed? I usually reform the Canadian units at HK, but what about the two Indian Divisions? Are they worth it?

That answer depends on play style. I too would re-form the Canadians as they have pretty deep device pools and don't get a lot of use in the early years. The Indians are more problematic. You get the devices you get as the Allies. If you reform units they come with just cadre and have to fill out over time from the pools. (Look under the 'I' key or use Tracker.) You stretch the same pool farther if you rebuild. If your play style normally loses you a lot of devices in battle you might end up with more, but low-strength, units if you reform and "steal" from the pool.

Some nations get so few replacements in the pools that reforming is almost never a good idea. Some of the Dutch types are an example. The British Army gets very few infantry squads, etc. But it comes down to style and how sure you are you have enough to go around. No one can give you an answer that always works. AE is like that.

Filling out the two Indian divisions will be problematic. You simply will lack enough squads early on when the could make a difference. You could buy them out but turn off replacements until you are sure you have the infantry squads to spare.

Oh, I almost forgot. I knew about the necessity of loading HQa with torpedoes before TBs will carry out their normal attacks. I have two Squadrons of Beesties and one Flight of Swordfish at Singers, but they'll be leaving soon due to the increasing number of air raids I'm taking here, which I can't defend against. I'll pull the squadrons and HQa out to use elsewhere and if I still have time I'll try to buy out a few LCUs from the Singer's garrison as well, specifically I'm thinking about the two Aussie Brigades.

Just be careful with the Beests. If you use a drop tank you can't carry a torpedo. (That's the pre-war Beest. the later one I believe you can.) For that one model of plane the interface will let you think you loaded both, but you didn't.

The Beest without a drop tank won't get you anywhere near Miri.

As for pulling out of Singers, opinions differ. Different ways to go there. What you don't want is to put a premium LCU on ships and have them sunk on the way out. Then you lose them at Singers, the new place, everywhere. Been there.

I wasn't aware of the situation with the drop tanks, that's a good thing to know. I'm assuming that when using a drop tank, that any payload you're carrying defaults to the extended range figure?

Also, I noticed something in today's turn and I'm trying something to see what happens. Yesterday, I set a squadron of Hudsons in Rangoon to Naval Search, with part of the first arc crossing over the land near Moulmein. This turn, when I check to see what I found, it would appear that the NavSearch mission found an LCU two hexes SE of Moulmein. No details were given, other than the fact that there's a unit there and it's not mine, but this caught me off guard. Can NavSearch missions do that or did something else detect that IJA unit and, if so, what? How does detection of LCUs work anyway?

On Beests: check Page 6 of the Tech Section for a thread I started about this. I was prety peeved, but look past that to Michael's response. The answer is you have to use the Aircraft Data tab as the final answer for what the game is actually loading and flying with. Don't depend on the Torpedo Loaded line being yellow. With a drop tank I believe the Beest flies with a machine gun only. But check. Drop tanks are a problem in many models. Sometimes they're on the centerline hardpoint and displace ordnance, sometimes they're on the wings and don't (or do), etc. Sometimes different models of the same named aircraft move the drop tank. The Beest is one of these. Always use the Aircraft Data tab.

The search thing is a new one. You may have actually come up with a question that's never been asked. Section 10.1.1 of the manual discusses how detection levels change. In general land detection by air takes a Recon mission, and water detection takes a Search. I'm pretty sure that there is code to detect when a Search mission is ordered over 100% land terrain types, but I don't know if there is code to detect when some segments of a Search go over land. I suspect there is not. So, I'd believe that the enemy LCU is there. I have never seen FOW apply to the actual presence of an LCU. IOW, I have never seen phantom icons show up on land. Not saying they couldn't, but I've never seen it.

It's also possible that LCU was detected by a standard means, as described in 10.1.1. Either way, I'd believe that it's there and make plans accordingly.

I checked it again today and the LCU is still there. It's not moving, or at least there's not a movement indicator, but the unit is showing up. I'm sending a Recon flight today to check it out and try to get a better idea of what's there, but I've already got a Division of troops (1st Burma) in Moulmein and digging in, along with a couple of ENG units and a HQ unit for support. I intend to stop his advance along the rivers just north of Moulmein, but to do that I've got to slow him down at Moulmein first and I need to know just exactly where he's at to do so, hence my question about if the NavSearch would work over land.

I'm also aware that the troops I have at the start in Burma aren't worth much, which is why I'm shifting troops around to try to support that theatre. I've got the 18th British Division and an Indian Division (Not positive, but I believe it was the 12th Indian) and three Brigades in route, along with more AA units from Singapore. I realize that to hold Rangoon is going to take everything I have, but I intend to bleed the IJA here instead of in India.

Filling out the two Indian divisions will be problematic. You simply will lack enough squads early on when the could make a difference. You could buy them out but turn off replacements until you are sure you have the infantry squads to spare.

That was my thought as well, but I think I'll not buy them back out until I'm ready and able to rebuild them, as I will probably need those PP's elsewhere before then.